Last year, the Cherry Valley-Springfield girls were knocking on the door of the program’s first sectional basketball championship.
This year, the Lady Patriots came back and kicked it down.
CV-S held off Edmeston/Morris 41-37 in Saturday’s Section IV Class D title game at SUNY Delhi, clinching that historic first championship banner.
“I’m just so incredibly proud of that group of girls over there,” CV-S coach Kelly Taggart said. “Honestly, I’m speechless; I’m just so proud of them. They fought for the full 32 minutes… just at a loss for words.”
While it was a low-scoring affair, it was far from a boring one as both teams came up with big runs to take the lead back from one another. In the end, the Patriots won some crucial rebounding battles in the final minute to seal the victory.
Mia Dubben led CV-S with 14 points including the game-clinching layup with five seconds left.
Daphnee West and Brin Whiteman each scored seven points in the win.
Molly Rifanburg paced E/M with 14 points while Haylie Lund finished with nine.
CV-S opened the game with some stifling defense and Dubben scored the team’s first six points to open up a 6-4 lead.
Both teams were feeling the other out in the first quarter but it was CV-S that pulled ahead late. A great sequence of passing led to an easy bucket for West and Morgan Huff beat the buzzer with a fast break layup to give the Patriots a 14-8 lead after one.
A 6-0 Patriots run to start the second quarter was part of a 12-0 run overall. Huff gave CV-S its biggest lead of the game with a three-pointer at the 2:23 mark that made it 25-12.
At the other end, Edmeston/Morris was getting some decent looks at the basket but simply couldn’t get the shots to fall.
They were, however, able to end the half on a 6-0 run to go into halftime down just 25-18.
The early portion of the second half saw a lot of turnovers and loose balls from both teams, though E/M was holding possession thanks to some great rebounding.
Hannah Wist scored four points to open the quarter for E/M and a three-pointer by Brenna Bolton tied the game at 25-25 midway through the third.
E/M would eventually take a 29-25 lead as part of a 17-0 run that began before the half.
The Patriots were able to stop the bleeding before the end of the quarter as Whiteman hit a three-pointer to cut the deficit to 33-32.
Taggart said the message to her team during this game of runs was to keep their composure.
“Stay calm and collected and just breathe,” she said of her advice to her squad. “Sometimes you just have to take a second, breathe and then assess and attack. They had some ups and downs but we were able to work through it and come out with a win against a very, very good team.”
The pace began to pick up in the fourth quarter but that wasn’t reflected on the scoreboard as the two teams scored just one point between them in the first four minutes of action. CV-S in particular simply couldn’t convert on chances near the rim or from the outside.
A floater by Taryn Lund gave E/M a 36-32 lead with 3:40 to play. The score would hold for another two minutes before Kailey Barnes made two of three free throws to cut it to 36-34.
Then, with just over a minute to play, West came up with perhaps the play of the game, grabbing a loose rebound and converting a three-point play to regain the lead for CV-S 37-36.
The Patriots continued to hold on to the ball even when they missed shots thanks to tremendous rebounding efforts, one of which led to a pair of free throws from Whiteman that made it 39-36 with 32 seconds left.
“We told them that we needed to get on the boards and they answered,” Taggart said of her team’s effort on the glass. “All of them, every single one of them were fighting and trying to get those boards. We asked and they answered in a big game.”
E/M made one of two at the other end to cut the lead to 39-37 with 20 seconds left. But Dubben’s putback off another rebound in the final seconds closed the door on the title game victory.
CV-S (19-3) will be back in action next Saturday in the state regionals where it will face either Eldred of Section IX or Smithtown Christian of Section XI. Edmeston/Morris ends the season with a final mark of 20-3.
A year after coming so close to that first championship, Taggart said combing back and finishing the job makes it that much sweeter.
“Getting so close last year and not getting that title, it does make it a little bit different,” she said. “I’m just so proud of those girls. I couldn’t ask for a better team, I couldn’t ask for a better group of girls.”
Cherry Valley-Springfield 41, Edmeston/Morris 37 (Saturday)
CV-S … 14 11 7 9 — 41
E/M … 8 10 15 4 — 37
CV-S: Mackenzie McGovern 1 0-0 2, Kailey Barnes 1 2-3 4, Daphnee West 3 1-3 7, Morgan Huff 2 0-0 5, Sarah Cortese 0 0-0 0, Erin Williams 1 0-0 2, Mia Dubben 5 4-6 14, Brin Whiteman 2 2-6 7. Totals: 15 9-18 41
E/M: Hannah Wist 3 0-0 6, Avery Bolton 1 1-2 3, Julia Vunk 0 0-0 0, Maeve Robinson 0 0-0 0, Haylie Lund 3 3-6 9, Taryn Lund 1 0-0 2, Molly Rifanburg 6 2-2 14, Brenna Bolton 1 0-0 3, Maddie Coleman 0 0-0 0. Totals: 15 6-10 37
Three-point baskets: CV-S 2 (Huff, Whiteman); E/M 1 (B. Bolton)